Cutter for shale-excavators.



J. M. POWELL.

CUTTER FOR SHALE EXGAVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2, 1913.

1,129,517. riga.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

SHOM w u *HKLM/Leones NORRIS PETERS C0., PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINGTON. D4

JOSEPH. M. POWELL, OF BROOKLYN, INDIANA.

CUTTER FOR SHADE-EXCAVATO RS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Original application filed August 5, 1912, Serial No. 713,243. Divided and this application led August 2,

1913. Serial No. 782,581. y

T0 @Zlio/710m t may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. POWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the lcounty of Morgan and State of Indiana, have invented a new andI useful Cutter for Shale-Excavators, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of brick, drain tile,

etc., natural deposits of clay, shale,'etc., are` used as a basis for the plastic. Such natural the present application, which is a divisiony of the above mentioned application, is to provide a cutter chain and cutter for operating on such clay or shale deposits, and for especial use in the apparatus in the above mentioned application.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete apparatus in operative position; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail of the cutter chain and cutter; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail of one side of the cutter chain and its adjacent guide-way; and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail of a modified wearing shoe for the cutter chain.

A track l0 is laid on the ground at the bottom of and parallel with the vertical face of a bank 11 from which the clay or shale is to be cut. Mounted on the track 10 are the wheels 12 of a carriage 13, and mounted on the carriage 13 is a main frame or tower 14, which is slidably adjustable upon the carriage 13 transversely of the track 10 by a temper screw 15.

At the lower inner corner of the tower 14 is a pair of idler sprockets 17 and vertically above these sprockets, at the upper end of the tower, is a similar pair of idler sprockets 18. Mounted in suitable bearings at the lower end of the tower 14 is a shaft 19 carrying a pair of driving sprockets 21, which are arranged in the vertical planes of the sprockets 17 and 18. Over the three sets of sprockets 17, 13, and 21 is passed a cutter chain 22, which in the present instance comprises a pair of parallel link belts spaced apart. The chain 22 carries any desired lnumber of cutters, each of which consists of a comparatively narrow cutter bit 23 mounted in a holder 24 having a transverse opening 25 for the reception of the cutter bit, said cutter bit being held in any one of several possible positions by means of a cross pin 26 taking into one or another of a plurality of notches 27 formed inthe bit. The holderl 24 comprises a tube or pipe 28 which fits upon a cross vpin 29 connecting the pair of link belts forming the chain 22, and at its rear end is provided with a notch or seat 30 which ts upon an adjacent cross pin 29 also connecting such link belts. A. scraper 31 precedes and another one follows each cutter 23, these Scrapers also extending between the two link belts forming the chain 22. In addition, each holder 24 also acts as a scraper.

The vertical working face of the tower 14 is provided with two vertical guides 32 for the reception and support of the active por- 'tions of the two link belts forming the chain 22, and said chain is provided at suitable points, preferably at the links whichv carry the pins 29 and 29, with wearing members to coperate with the guides. These wearing members may take different forms, such as anti-friction rollers 33, as shown in Fig. 4, or sliding shoes 34, as shown in Fig. 5.

The driving shaft 19 is driven in any suitable manner by a motor 54. If this motor is an electric motor, it is supplied by a' feed wire 91, which passes over a support 92 at the top of the tower and is provided with a suitable trolley 93 for engagement with a wire arranged along the top of the bank, the wire 91 conveniently having sufficient slack to permit the placing of a weighted pulley block 94 in the bight thereof. The motor 54 drives the cutter chain 22 so that the cutters 23 move vertically downward along the face of the bank 11, and is also arranged so that it may drive the wheels 12 to propel the carriage 13 in either direction along the track 10. As the chain and the carriage are thus driven, the cutters 23 projecting a suiiicient distance into the vertical face of the bank 11, comparatively narrow and thin shavings of mud or shale are out from suoli face; and as several cutters are simultaneously operating at different points on the bank, these shavings will fall in a substantially uniform mixture. This uniform mixture of shavings falls upon a slanting platform 75, whence it is carried by a carrier 76, also driven by the motor 54, to a car 77 mounted on a track 78 parallel with the track 10. Any of the shavings which pass below the platform 75 are carried by the scrapers 3l and the holders 24 up an inclined trough 74 and delivered to the carrier 76. By making the cutters 23 comparatively narrow, no difficulty is experienced upon their striking the stones whichk are commonly embedded in the clay 0r shale of the bank.

I claim as my invention: p

1. In combination, a pair of parallel endless link belts, cross bars connecting said belts, a plurality of cutter holders mounted on said cross bars, each of said cutter holders comprising a tubular member' which lits around one of the cross bars and extends the full distance between the two link belts Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by'addressng the Commissioner of Patents,

and a part which extends transversely to such tube and is provided at its end with a notch open away from such tube and fitting over another cross bar, and cutters held in such cutter holders and projecting transversely to the tubes thereof.

2. In combination, a pair of parallel endless link belts, cross bars connecting said link belts, a plurality of cutter holders each of which is supported on two of said cross bars and is provided with a bit-receiving opening, said bit-receiving openings being close to the forward one of the two cross bars with which the cutter holder is asso ciated, and a plurality of cutter bits mounted in the openings of the various cutter holders, each of said cutter bits extending across the plane determined by the two associated cross bars.

In witness whereof, l, have hereunto set my hand and seal at Indianapolis, Indiana, this thirtieth day of July, A. D. one thou Sand nine hundred and thirteen.

JOSEPH M. POWELL.

l/Vitnesses:

FRANK A. FAHLE, G. B. SCHLEY.

Washington-,1). C. 

